RP: The First Annual Spring Festival - Day Two

[tt_ginny]

Date: 10 March 2002
Characters: Ginny Weasley, Marcus Flint, Open to Anyone
Setting: The Festival
Content: PG
Status: Public : Open



She waved as she passed the current gave of Living Chess, gripping her broom tightly as she jogged over to whisper a tip in the ear of the young girl playing the Knight. Her game this morning had gone great, though they'd played against a local team from Three, and not any that had the professionals in them. She'd caught the Snitch though and that's what had her grinning from ear to ear as she went looking for the coffee stand, remembering what Alicia had said. If Flint reverted back to his vile attitude with her, she's cure herself of these lingering thoughts.

There were two very lively volleyball games going on at this end of the beach but Ginny could see at least two more at the far end and what looked like a game of cricket, too. She passed a juggler entertaining a group of young children and stopped at one of the beer stands to ask directions. Now heading in the right direction, Ginny knew she was in the right place when she saw Viktor and his teammates had transfigured some rocks into chairs. He lifted a hand to her and she returned the wave with a smile but didn't go over, heading instead to the coffee stand, checking the time as she did.

Comments

[tt_ginny]

That was the thing about Quidditch players. They had a confidence that couldn't be faked, evidenced again by Flint's grin. She also couldn't help but notice that he was being friendly, though she wasn't going to make any assumptions there.

"Caught the Snitch when we were up 50 points," she replied with a smug grin that shifted to a quick smile. "Can I get you an iced coffee? They're pretty good."

[tt_marcus]

"Nice," he remarked with a smile. Marcus was pleased for her, but also glad for himself. He'd played Weasleys at Quidditch back during his school days and they had never been the most pleasant people after they'd lost. Of course, he'd usually been on the team that had beaten them, which probably coloured opinions a little. Knowing that Ginny had won made him feel a lot more secure that she wasn't about to start getting angry with him for something.

"Er, yeah. Sure. Coffee would be good." He'd never had it iced before, but he needed a cold drink. "So... how've you been?" he asked cautiously.

[tt_ginny]

"Thanks," she replied, her smile widening. No one liked to lose, but what was the point of playing if you weren't going to play to win? Ginny turned and used the four Bulgarians words she actually knew to order an ice coffee for Flint.

"I've been... good. Really busy after the potion thing but its finally settling down now," she answered, glancing over. It only took a few moments and she was holding out another coffee to him. "How have you been?" Gin asked just as cautiously.

[tt_marcus]

She spoke Bulgarian? That was surprising. The best Marcus had picked up was how to say thank you, which came in handy at the market. If he combined that with a smile, sometimes the older ladies would give him an extra piece of whatever sweet treat he was buying.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Marcus said as he took his coffee. People had been a little negligent with their work when they'd been under the potion, which meant a few things to catch up with. "I haven't been too bad." He scowled as he thought. "My sister's just about stopped mocking me." He shrugged. "So I guess that's something."

[tt_ginny]

"My friends have had a rather different reaction," she replied with wry twist of her lips and a sigh. Gin wished they were in a more private spot to talk but it had been her idea to meet up here.

Sucking in her bottom lip, Gin thought for a moment before saying. "So, no, err, lingering effects, then?" she asked hesitantly. Scuffing the toe of her sneaker in the sand, feeling dread welling up inside her, Ginny plunged ahead. "I've had some, er, random thoughts, you see."

[tt_marcus]

"What, they're not taking the piss 'cause you fell in love with a Slytherin troll?" Marcus asked, raising his eyebrows. More than anything, he was surprised that a group of Gryffindors weren't finding a way to ridicule him somehow. He'd expected as much.

Trying his iced coffee, he paused. The taste wasn't what he'd expected. Not in a bad way, just different. He tried another sip. "Random thoughts?" he asked blankly, at a loss until his brain managed to catch up with what she'd mentioned about lingering effects. "Oh. Er, I dunno. Maybe? I'm not sure." Had he thought about her since? Yes. Was that an effect of the potion? He had no clue.

[tt_ginny]

"They're pretty angry about it, actually. Which is absurd. None of us planned for that to happen," Ginny admitted cautiously. "Oh, don't worry, they aren't going to be looking for you or anything of that sort. I sorted that out straight away."

Pretending to focus on the volleyball match just over his shoulder in the distance, Ginny was saying a small prayer to Merlin to please just let the ground swallow her up right now. "Right. Okay. You'd know if you were, I guess," Ginny stated with a bit more firmness than she felt. "Well, um, enjoy the coffee, then."

[tt_marcus]

Angry? That actually hurt a little. He supposed he could take comfort that a cohort of angry witches weren't going to chase him down, but it wasn't much. "Well, I appreciate you standing up for me." Marcus could be honest about that. It was surprising in a nice way. Then again, she was a Healer. You had to have a generous sort of heart to devote yourself to a profession like that.

"Would I? Didn't know I was under the potion in the first place." If it still had a lingering hold over him, would he really be able to tell? He knew that he didn't want her to look so bloody uncomfortable right now. Marcus wasn't sure how much he would have cared about that before the love potion. "Are you... going somewhere? I mean, I was thinking of watching the under-18 match that's starting soon." It wasn't quite an invitation, but at the same time, it wasn't not an invitation.

[tt_ginny]

"Right," Ginny agreed quickly, wondering just how awful Slytherin must be if he had been surprised by her loyalty to him, even to her friends. It wasn't as if it had been horrible. It wasn't as if he'd taken advantage of her. He'd been downright proper, all in all.

She had been entertaining rather graphic thoughts about going for a long walk and never coming back, well, maybe coming back but much, much later when she was sure she wouldn't run into him again when he questioned her. "Oh, no. Oh," Ginny stammered, somewhere in the thick of it, it almost sounded like he was inviting her to join him. "You were? That sounds like a bit of fun," she agreed with a quick smile.

[tt_marcus]

"Yeah? I mean, yeah. I thought it would be good to watch. Young talent and stuff." Quidditch probably wouldn't be a profession here for years, but they couldn't let the sport die out. It was part of their heritage. He knew the history of Quidditch inside and out, thanks to his mother realising that it was the overlap between their own areas of interest.

"If you wanted to watch with me..." He couldn't help but smile, realising that he was actually quite interested in getting her opinion on the match. "I wouldn't mind that, y'know?"

[tt_ginny]

"Oh, I agree, young talent is very important. How can we restart the league without it, right?" she agreed, unable to suppress her grin. That was something they definitely had in common, a strong desire to keep Quidditch going and their mutual enjoyment of the game.

"I think I have time to watch a game, since you don't mind," Ginny answered with a grin, lifting her broom to set on her shoulder and waiting for him to gather his things. "Lead on."

[tt_marcus]

"Great." He picked up his kit bag, slinging it over his shoulder before he snatched his broom out of the air. "Should be a good match," he said, starting to head over to one of the pitches. "I've seen a lot of enthusiastic kids about. "Y'know, if they haven't worn themselves out cheering at other matches."

Marcus sipped his coffee. The taste of the cold drink was growing on him, but it probably wouldn't be a regular drink for him. "Wish I could have seen your match. Sounds like it was closer."

[tt_ginny]

Ginny fell into step beside him, glancing over to see Viktor Krum watching their departure with a curious expression but she glanced up to Marcus instead, believing that Alicia might have had the right idea after all. She kept in step, sipping her coffee.

"I love watching the kids play. Just to see the joy, you know? The love. Coming here, I wasn't sure we'd get to keep that, but this festival just goes to show," Ginny said with a laugh. "It was just timing, but you know that. The Snitch was heading in the direction of the Ark so it was a no or never kinda moment. I was too far from the scoreboard to see. Believe me, that flight back is always a 'heart in the throat' kinda thing."

[tt_marcus]

"Yeah. They just get so into it." Marcus gestured with his broom. "Put everything they have into the game. A lot of people lose that as they get older. They start worrying about what they look like on their broom and whether the fans'll like their haircut." He made a dismissive noise. He didn't give two figs about what he looked like in the air, so long as his team won. At the same time, though, he knew he didn't possess an ounce of childlike freedom.

He nodded. "Yeah, I bet. That sort of match is always more interesting for the spectators. I remember playing the Magpies once. One of my first pro matches. Came down to twenty points. Just out of the corner of my eye I saw the Seekers go for the Snitch." Marcus winced, thinking of the memory. "A second was all it took for a Bludger to clobber me. Broke three ribs."

[tt_ginny]

"I don't ever want to lose that. I guess that's part of the reason I didn't regret leaving the team. I mean, I was second string anyway but I just... I love the competition. I didn't love the feeling like my whole life had to be about the team. I had enough of 'its all or nothing' in school," Ginny declared firmly.

He'd probably scoff at her for that, tell her how silly she was, and she was prepared to accept that. What she wasn't prepared to do was be anything less than herself. When he told her of the Bludger, Ginny couldn't help but wince. Even with healing, that had to hurt like hell. "That must have been awful. You're lucky you didn't puncture a lung."

[tt_marcus]

"I get it. I mean, sometimes it's really bloody hard to find a balance and have a life outside the game." He frowned. "I'm not great at that." There was a reason the press had never spread gossip about him - there wasn't really a great deal to gossip about.

He nodded. "Nearly blacked out," he confirmed, matter-of-fact. "But it's a hazard of the job. When you had to put my shoulder back in place, it wasn't the first time I'd dislocated something."

[tt_ginny]

"But it's different here. You can, you know, have a life and the game," she pointed out, a light blush rising on her cheeks as she looked away from him quickly. That came out a bit more boldly than she intended it. Taking a deep breath, Ginny pushed on. "I'm sure they'll restart the league soon, though. I saw the portal medical records for next month. All the information for the Arrows, Harpies, United, and Magpies was data-pushed through."

She glanced up at him when he mentioned the shoulder dislocation, surprised that he had remembered her being there. He'd seemed quite out of sorts at the time. "No, it wasn't. I had to review your record when I added the shoulder work."

[tt_marcus]

"Just doesn't feel like much of a life without the game in it right now, though," he said, just a little bitter until he heard the news. "Really? Well," he mused, "that'll make things interesting." But it was a little disheartening that there weren't more of the Falcons coming through. His teammates had become his closest friends through necessity during their busy training schedules. Life was a little empty without them, even though he had made a handful of new friends since arriving.

Marcus chuckled, glancing at her. The sunlight gleamed on her red hair and, for a moment, he was transported back to that day in the wheat field. "Yeah. There's a reason Quidditch isn't a lifelong career."

[tt_ginny]

"I hear rumors around the Med Center, but it's hard to believe anything until it happens, you know? That many teams, though, it sounds like something's changing on the other side," Ginny replied with a shrug. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted too much to change here. Life was less political here.

Arriving at the Quidditch area, she spotted an empty blanket nearby. Reaching out, Ginny took Marcus' hand and gave it a light tug as she sank down cross-legged on the blanket, setting her broom down on the opposite side. "Have you thought about what you want after Quidditch?" she asked.

[tt_marcus]

"Doesn't take much to guess that things are getting worse over there." Marcus felt cold just thinking about how the climate must have deteriorated.

He nearly froze as Ginny took hold of his hand, however brief the touch was. Ginny kept surprising him and he didn't quite know what to make of it. He set his broom down carefully, making sure that no one would be able to stand on it by accident. Brooms didn't confuse him the way women did. "Er, kind of always thought I'd stay in Quidditch. Coaching? Maybe managing one day." He sipped his iced coffee. "Only other thing I've ever been good at his history and there isn't much call for that."

[tt_ginny]

"No, it doesn't. I know they're speeding up construction on the other continent. One of the engineering wizards was in last week. Had a wall fall on him, poor bloke," she explained. "Sirius messaged me yesterday. I'm going over there next week to do some charms work with him."

She didn't notice any hesitation on his part, though Ginny did note that he didn't try to keep hold of her hand after they sat. Still, just the fact that he wasn't growling or sneering at her seemed like a small victory. Though to what end, Ginny was probably as confused as he was.

A healer walked by and glanced between Marcus and she, arching an eyebrow pointedly at her, but Ginny lifted her chin defiantly in response. "Coaching, I could see. Managing? Isn't that a lot of deal-making?" Ginny replied, leaning back on one hand, watching as the Quaffle was tossed into the air. Her gaze was drawn to the Seeker already. "History?" she glanced over to him in surprise. "Err, sorry, I just wouldn't have taken you for a history buff."

[tt_marcus]

More people coming through the portal meant more work for everyone else when they arrived, too. From the point of view of Marcus's work, that mean more people to feed.

Marcus laughed, giving a shrug. "Yeah." He grinned briefly. "But give me a few decades. I could grow into the role." When Ginny looked at him in surprise, he settled on a smirk, leaning back and propping himself up with his free hand. "Dunno if I'd go that far. But Mum's an historian. Kind of drilled into me as a kid."

[tt_ginny]

She couldn't help but smile at his laugh. It was so strange to hear, but it was a nice sound. His grin, however, made her think of those daydreams, causing a small tingle in her stomach.

"Sorry, I can sorta picture you negotiating, but kissing arse? Not in a million more years," Ginny laughed, taking a drink of her ice coffee. She hadn't liked ice tea back in the old world but this was different.

"A historian? That's actually interesting. The only thing my mum drilled into me as a kid was housekeeping charms and cooking," she said, returning her attention to the game. Pointing up, she said. "The Seeker is facing the sun, won't be able to see anything, and he's too focused on looking, not listening."

[tt_marcus]

Marcus took a healthy gulp of his drink. "Yeah, but I could learn. Maybe." He frowned. It was a bit of a dream, but probably one that would never happen even without his lack of schmoozing skills.

He nodded. "Yeah. I kind of grew up with tales of historical battles as bedtime stories." Some might say that a dose of goblin wars before bed as a child had possibly affected his personality. In truth, his father had been far more of an influence in that respect.

"Hmm." Marcus looked out across the pitch, glancing at the Chasers before he settled his gaze on the Seeker in question. "He'll figure it out soon enough when that Bludger tries to have a go at him."

[tt_ginny]

"Maybe, but it wouldn't suit you, I think," Ginny pointed out, being honest and keeping her tone light. She didn't want him to think that she was looking down on him because she wasn't. Kissing arse wasn't something that came easily or naturally to her, either.

Just the fact that he was opening up to her about his childhood spoke volumes, even if he was just telling her about his mum. "My mum never told us anything that might keep us up at night. Actually, I'm pretty happy she didn't resort to sleeping potions, with the lot of us."

Her gaze dropped when he pointed out the Bludger, finding the Beaters quickly, and seeing that the Seeker wasn't even trying to track the game below him. "They're going to tag team him, poor sod," Ginny agreed with a sigh. "I just hope he learns from this."